I'd Wait Forever For You
by A True Dreamer
Summary: Ten years apart changed everything, and at the same time it changed absolutely nothing about how he felt for her. He would have waited one hundred years, and for that Bree was thankful. FWC:PICK A PIC WRITING CHALLENGE ENTRY/Alternate Universe


**Pick A Pick Challenge  
Title:** I'd Wait Forever For You  
**Penname:** A True Dreamer  
**Banner:** #41 – Do You Remember  
**Rating/Disclaimer:** Rated: T. Alternated Universe. Novel Compliant for all events and facts aside from Bree's death by the Volturi in Eclipse/Second Short Life.  
**Summary: **Ten years apart changed almost everything, and at the same time it changed absolutely nothing about how he felt for her. He would have waited one hundred years if that's what it took, and for that Bree was thankful. She didn't deserve Fred, but she'd do whatever it took to keep him.

* * *

Bree felt the sudden pursuit, someone was following her. She didn't know if she should continue to run or turn and fight. If she could just make it another mile she could disappear into the water, but she wasn't sure she could get there before whoever it was caught up with her.

Truth be told, she'd been running for the last ten years, running from everything. Who she was, who she wasn't, the reasons she'd left and most importantly _him_. Why she'd started didn't really matter as much as why she'd kept at it. She didn't know how to apologize, how to make things right.

She wondered if it was him behind her now, if she could really find him again that easily, after all this time. It didn't seem possible, and of course that's when she heard him.

"Bree, stop! Bree it's me!"

She turned and stopped immediately, she was done with running, and she'd been done for a while. It was why she'd come back to where it all began, only allowing herself a splinters hope that she'd find some clue that would lead to him.

Her eyes traveled all over him, as he came to a stop not even an arm's length from her. So much had changed in the decade they'd been apart. While she was messy and covered in earth showing just how much she'd been hiding from the world. He was clean cut, and well dressed. The most noticeable change though, was that his eyes were a beautiful shade of butterscotch. She actually gasped when she noticed that detail.

"Fred… your eyes… are you sick? What happened?" she was instantly worried, she remembered Rileys explanation of what the yellow eyes meant. They were supposed to be a sign of age and weakness.

"Bree…" he breathed with a sign of relief, before wrapping his arms around her.

"Don't I'll get you dirty," she protested weakly as she let herself get pulled into his arms.

"I could care less about something so trivial," he told her pulling her even closer to him, "Especially when I've got you back in my life, I've been waiting over a decade for this."

He pulled back a small fraction to look at her, "Let me take you home, I'll tell you everything after we get there, okay?"

Bree nodded in silent reply as she wrapped her arms around him to return the hug. When they finally pulled apart, he led her out of the woods to a car. They drove for a couple of hours in silence, she was curious about everything that had happened to him while they were apart. Before she knew it they were pulling up to a house secluded away and she wondered what had motivated him to get a house in the middle of this town.

She kept quiet as he lead her inside, she followed him to the bathroom where he turned on the shower. She could smell other vampires all over this place, and glanced at him looking for a sign as to what that meant, if maybe he had found a mate since she'd last known him.

He pulled her out of her reverie, "Go ahead and get cleaned up, I'll leave some clothes for you just outside the door. Meet me in the living room when you're done." Then he smiled, before leaving her to herself.

She felt as though she'd landed in some twilight zone. Who was this man? Had she really ever known Fred at all?

The shower was amazing. She hadn't realized how much she missed her old human tendencies until she was doing them again. She washed her hair and scrubbed her body clean. This was the first shower she'd taken since becoming a vampire. If she were human she knew that ten years without a shower would disgust her, but somehow the need had never been there until just this moment.

As she wrapped a towel around herself, she leaned over to wipe the steam from the bathroom mirror. It was strange to know that so much time had passed and yet she still looked exactly the same as she had back then. She reached her fingers up toward her eyes, instantly worried again about Fred. Was this her fault? Would he have been okay if things had gone differently she wondered…

* * *

"_Let go of me! What are you doing?" Bree screamed as she tried to pull herself free from his hold, she probably would have managed if he hadn't turned his gift on her for the first time in days. Suddenly she was doubled over and he used that to his advantage, tossing her over his shoulder and running. _

_She wasn't sure how far they'd gone, and couldn't be sure where exactly he'd taken her. All she knew was that it felt like a lifetime before she was suddenly being put down. Suddenly the repulsion stopped and she looked around at the unfamiliar basement. He was blocking the door, the way out, the way to Diego. _

"_Why?" she screamed, jumping to her feet, "Why would you do that, I needed to go, I needed to make sure Diego-"_

"_Diego is dead Bree," he told her cutting her off. _

"_You don't know what you're talking about, he was with _her_; he was at the battle. Riley said-"_

_He cut her off again, "Riley is a liar Bree. I don't understand how you can see that about everything else but not this. Diego was never with _her_ I don't know what happened but I know Riley had something to do with why he never came back that night. I know it, and I know you know it. Deep down inside you know it's the truth, and that's why I couldn't let you go, I couldn't risk you dying for the dead." _

_Bree shook her head violently, he was wrong, he had to be wrong. Diego couldn't be dead… he couldn't. She would have felt it, she would have known somehow the instant it happened that he was no longer alive, no longer safe. She glared at Fred, at the man who had taken her choices away. _

"_I hate you," she said through gritted teeth. "You had no way of being sure that he was dead, and now because of you he probably really is. You killed him by not letting me save him. I will never, ever forgive you."_

_Fred's eyes tensed at her words but he otherwise kept a straight face before he gave a small nod, "I don't need you to like me, I just need you alive."_

_Her eyes narrowed, "Great, well I'm alive. Can you let me go now?"_

_Fred pursed his lips, but didn't move as she hoped. _

"_How long were we traveling?" She asked suddenly, wondering how long it had been since the battle had taken place. _

"_A day and a half," he answered her quietly._

_She nodded, she would return to the cabin they'd been at to see if Diego had come looking for her. If his scent wasn't there she would know he was dead. "Can you let me go," she asked again. _

_Fred reluctantly stepped to the side and she made her way to the stairs. Just as her foot hit the bottom step he spoke again. "I care about you Bree… it's why I couldn't let you die." _

"_If you cared, you'd have known I needed to go." Bree said before racing up the rest of the steps, and into the forest pretending it was the wind in her ears when the words: I love you, floated in the air behind her.

* * *

_

Fred paced the living room, still unable to believe after all this time they'd found each other again. He had so many questions to ask. Where had she been? Why hadn't she come back sooner? Did she still hate him for what he'd done?

He hoped not.

He glanced up when he heard her step into the room, her hair still damp, but pulled up into a bun at the back of her head. He smiled, she was still as beautiful as she'd been the last time he'd seen her. Thankfully there was no anger in her features this time around.

He sat down at the couch, encouraging her to follow his lead. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions," he said as she settled herself on the opposite end.

"Start at the beginning?" She asked, her eyes locked on his, and he knew she was dying to know about that significant change.

"Okay," he nodded, "Well after you left, I stayed in that cabin for another two weeks, just in case you changed your mind and came back. When you didn't, I realized I needed to go at it on my own, and see what life outside of a basement was like. So I went to Canada never staying in one place too long. I wandered around for the better part of a year and a half before I made the decision to check back at the last place I saw you, just in case."

"When you weren't there, I decided to go to the town Riley tried to get us to attack. It was there that I met the Cullen family, or the _yellow eyed coven_. They weren't hostile and they weren't planning to attack all those years ago. In fact they explained that it had all been part of an elaborate plan by _her_ to try and kill that human whose shirt Riley had us all smell, you remember?" He asked, trying to draw her into the conversation.

"I remember," Bree answered, nodding her head. "You still haven't explained the eyes," Bree probed, urging him to continue with his story.

"Yes, well the eyes come from not feeding on humans, by surviving on a diet of animals."

"We can do that?" Bree asked seeming surprised.

"Yes, and once they explained their reason for it, and all that came with choosing to survive that way, I knew I needed to do it if I was going to find you again." Fred told her, giving her a small smile.

Bree raised an eyebrow at him, "I don't understand… how did switching your diet help you find me?"

"Well they have a deep appreciation for human life, and spending time around them I could easily understand and respect that decision. When it comes down to it though, the real reason I made the switch was because first it meant I could settle down in one place; one place near where I'd last seen you. And second it meant I had their help, and that was imperative because one of their family members can see the future, her name is Alice and she promised to keep an eye out for you for me." Fred smiled at her, "So it really was a no brainer, besides the diet isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be."

"Alice…? So are you and Alice together? Is that her I smell?" Bree asked, her eyes searching his.

Fred looked at Bree curiously before reaching forward and grasping her hand, "I'm not with anyone; I've been waiting for you this entire time."

He watched her bite her lip in a mixture of uncertainty and a little bit of hope.

"Your smelling pretty much the entire Cullen family, because my house is located on their land, they are here all the time. They actually wanted to be here when I brought you back but I thought that might be a little overwhelming so I said we'd go over to their house later, if you chose to stay."

"If I chose?" Bree whispered.

"Bree I want to apologize for taking away your choices all those years ago. I'm not sorry you're alive but I am sorry for how I went about making that happen. I have been waiting all this time hoping you would come back, that you would still be single and that you'd be willing to give me a chance." Fred told her tightening the grip he had on her hand, hoping.

* * *

Bree stared at him in shock, completely unprepared how to respond. She'd convinced herself long ago that someone as sweet and loyal as Fred would have moved on, fallen in love, and met someone… someone who wasn't her. Yet here he was telling her all the things she thought were impossible. She placed her other hand on top of their joined ones, and smiled.

"Fred, I forgive you, I forgave you the instant I returned to the old house and realized that Diego hadn't come back, that he was dead. When I allowed myself to accept that you were right about Riley, it all fit into place for me the instant I was standing there again, reliving the details through fresh eyes. I forgave you but I couldn't forgive myself for how I treated you, and so I ran. I didn't want to face you again and risk the chance that you would return the rash words of hate I'd used against you."

"I ran, but I never stopped thinking about you. The last thing you said to me was something that I never let go of, something that I hope you can forgive me for pretending I didn't hear back then. The more I ran, the more I realized that a huge part of me would always wondered what could have been between us, but I was convinced you deserved more than ungrateful, selfish me."

Bree finally looked up from where she'd been staring at their hands, "I want to be with you too, can you forgive me?"

He didn't even bother with a verbal response. For Bree the smile that graced his lips before he joined them to hers was all she needed.

End

* * *

AN: Ending the story here, but I may continue it after the contest.


End file.
